A machine may include a transmission coupled to a power source, such as an internal combustion engine or an electric motor to enable the machine to be repositioned and/or to travel between locations. With increased interest in energy conservation and avoidance of use of fossil fuels, use of electric motors is becoming more common. Electric motors may be used to convert electrical energy into mechanical power to drive the machine. For example, electric motors may be used in a vehicle, a backhoe loader, a cold planer, a wheel loader, a compactor, a feller buncher, a forest machine, a forwarder, a harvester, an excavator, an industrial loader, a knuckleboom loader, a material handler, a motor grader, a pipelayer, a road reclaimer, a skid steer loader, a skidder, a telehandler, a tractor, a dozer, a tractor scraper, or other equipment.
Alternatively, some machines may include both an electric motor and an internal combustion engine. For example, an electrical drive train of a machine, such as a tractor, may include an internal combustion engine, a generator coupled to the internal combustion engine, a direct current (DC) power source, and a motor. In this case, the internal combustion engine may be used to reposition the machine, and the generator, the DC power source, and the motor may be used to drive one or more implements of the machine. An inverter may be coupled to the DC power source and the motor to convert DC to AC power. The inverter may provide the AC power to the generator to electrically drive the motor and/or to electrically brake the motor.
The motor may be a switched reluctance (SR) motor, which may be controlled using open-loop table-based control based on phases provided by the inverter. However, an inverter topology for driving such a motor may require two power switches and two diodes for each phase of the inverter. This may result in a quantity of 2n components for the inverter topology, where n represents a quantity of phases of the inverter. In another inverter topology, capacitors may be added to the inverter to receive energy from a phase being switched from on to off. These components may be expensive and/or prone to failure, damage, and/or the like.
One attempt to improve inverters is disclosed in China Patent No. CN107884652 that was filed by Hefei Kewell Power System Co., Ltd. on Apr. 6, 2018 (“the '652 patent”). In particular, the '652 patent discloses a high voltage DC electronic load control system. The load control system, disclosed in the '652 patent, includes multiple DC chopper type insulated-gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs), thereby providing a feedback system for load control.
However, reduction of a quantity of IGBTs and/or other components in an inverter topology may be advantageous with regard to improving functioning of a machine, an electrical drive train, an inverter, and/or the like. The inverter topology of the present disclosure solves one or more problems set forth above and/or other problems in the art.